READING: Lamentations 3:37-5:22
TEXTS AND APPLICATION: Sometimes, following God still leads to trouble. Though scholars debate whether Jeremiah wrote this book, Lamentations 3:52-54 seems to describe the episode when Jeremiah’s enemies threw him into a pit (Jer. 38:4-6). If not Jeremiah, the writer still speaks as one who suffered greatly “for no apparent reason” (Lam. 3:52).
Regardless of the situation, though, the unnamed writer called upon God in his distress:
Lam. 3:55-56 I called on Your name, Yahweh, from the depths of the Pit. You hear my plea: Do not ignore my cry for relief. You come near when I call on You; You say: “Do not be afraid.”
God replied with the words we so often hear in the scriptures: “Do not be afraid.” In the following verses, the writer notes that God sees all the wrong done to him (Lam. 3:59) and hears all the insults hurled at him (Lam. 3:61). Nothing gets by the God of the Bible, who sees and hears all things while knowing each of us intimately. He is hardly the idol who cannot see, hear, or respond.
Hence, this narrative is not a promise that we will never face hardship as we follow Him; it is, though, a reminder that we do not face those hardships alone. He is with us — and that’s all that matters. We must call on His name, trusting that He hears our cries and comes near to us. We really do not need to be afraid.
PRAYER: “Father, take my fears away today. Let me live in the wonder that You know me, see me, hear me, and respond to me. That’s actually quite amazing, God.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Ezekiel 1-4
